If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

He-Ro vs King Grayskull

Name: Gray
Identity: Secret (ancestor of He-Man and She-Ra)
Real Name: Hero, alter ego of Gray
Role: First recipient of the Powers of Grayskull and original leader of the heroic forces in prehistoric Eternia against the evil Dino Reptilian Kingdom
Power: As well as possessing the fabulous strength of He-Man, He-Ro has another power uniquely his own. It is the power of natural magic: an ability to magically influence elements of nature. He-Ro draws his power from the Book of Transformation.
Character Profile: Reared under the tuteledge of his mentor, ELDOR, and the tribal chieftess, Sharella, Gray was one day mysteriously drawn to a nearby cave. There, in darkness and in light, he was invested with the newly evolved powers that would change his his life and alter the course of history in Eternia. The exact details of what transpired in that cave have remained secret, but Eldor has made cryptic allusions…references to the boy's mysterious past, to an amazing legacy… and an awesome task which Gray accomplished that day in the cave. By placing one hand on his heart, flexing the other arm into a muscle and incanting, "Magic and strength…tempered by heart!" Gray causes an amazing transformation to occur, becoming the He-Ro of Grayskull and announcing, "I stand for Peace!"
Weapons: He-Ro channels his energy through a marvelous staff which can direct a magic ray to specific parts of the environment, causing the likes of inanimate rocks, rivers, and trees to respond to his commands.
Note: With powers of this scope, it might seem ludicrous to suggest any way in which He-Ro could be less powerful than He-Man. But He-Man does have one power He-Ro lacks: the power of wisdom and maturity. He-Ro is younger and still learning to use his powers.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40).

I actually liked the King Grayskull angle on the show, and until just reading your post, knew very little about He-Ro. I thought he was He-Man and Teela's adopted son.

That's a different He-Ro.

This He-Ro was originally meant to be the star in a line of figures called "the Powers of Grayskull" which was supposed to be released after the MOTU line was wound up. They made some prototypes *like the one you saw* but the line was never released. In the end, he was only seen in one mini-comic, which was supposed to be a three part story. I think it might've been titled after the line itself and if I am not mistaken.

The He-Ro you're thinking of is the He-Ro that Lou Scheimer *was it him, or am i remembering this wrong?* came up with as a possible sequel of sorts to the original MOTU series. I assume you know about him from the series bible on this site *which is why I know about him too*.

Edit:

As for my preference between He-Ro and KG.... I dunno.. it's hard to say. KG and He-Man are basically equal in power, as is my understanding... However HR really kicks HM's rear when it comes to power. That nonsense about He-Man's superior power of maturity and wisdom won't seem all that impressive after HR has had a few yrs to learn how to use his powers. This leads to the problem of having a character who is so powerful that you can't take any danger he faces seriously *since he can beat all the bad guys, and also all the good guys, and everyone in between, with his eyes closed, using his weaker hand*. HM already had this problem, but HM with magic tossed in makes it seem really ridiculous.

I actually liked the King Grayskull angle on the show, and until just reading your post, knew very little about He-Ro. I thought he was He-Man and Teela's adopted son.

That was a different He-Ro.

The He-Ro, as described above, was going to be the basis for the Powers of Grayskull line, which would have been part of the original MOTU toyline, but it got canceled before anything really happened with it.

Separately, sometime around the mid 90s, Lou Scheimer had put together a concept for a new cartoon series called "He-Ro Son of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", which would have been the adopted son concept. Nothing ever happened with the series in terms of actually being produced.

Aside from both of them having the name He-Ro, they were essentially two different and completely unrelated characters.

Do we have any artwork that shows us how He-Ro would have looked in a cartoon or comic?

Because just going by costumes, He-Ro loses... big time.

I have thought a bit about how I would incorporate both HR and KG into MOTU. This is what I would come up with:

The power that they all wield would be sort of like this eternal "good" energy. It would be a sort of magic that kind of exists in the universe and is essentially the opposite of black magic.

HR would be the first person to learn how to truly use the magic. That is how he would get the strength. But he would be using the magic directly from the source, so he would also be able to do "magical" feats (like that elemental stuff referred to in the bio). I would however make it so that the power is too great for a man to truly control alone, so eventually it would drain HR and perhaps be the cause of his death *in a way similar to what was done in that movie, the Covenant*

Then I would have KG be born a few hundred years later. KG would be "chosen" by the force to create Castle Greyskull which would be used as a conduit for the force. So basically, instead of the force just being "accessible" as is, it would be funneled through Castle Grayskull into the "chosen one". Due to the potentially dangerous side effects of using the power's full potential, the power when channeled through Grayskull would only be used to augment the user's strength and wisdom, as opposed to the wider range of powers that were available to He-Ro.

So in the end, HM and KG would be more or less equal in power. HR would be more powerful than either of them, but the cost of that power would be it eventually killing him because the power is too great for him to contain in its raw form.

On the one hand, the He-Ro concept is pretty cool, and has it's merrits. But, other than seeing prototype pics on these boards years after the fact, the character never meant much for me.

As for King Grayskull, that story and that particular episode of the MYP show were interesting (particularly due to the involvement of the Horde). Though, what I didn't really like was that there was no true source of his power, so to speak. Somehow, his bravery and determination or whatever (when facing the challenges presented by the Oracle) somehow translated into his powers, which really was kind of a cruddy explanation. Plus, King Grayskull and Battle Lion were pretty much just He-Man and Battle Cat redesigned and given new names, so it's not exactly like they came up with some mind boggling new concept.

To some extent, I don't completely like either story line. It's just that (esspecially with the Filmation series) there was this big sense of mystery surrounding the origins of the powers of Grayskull, and by comparison, these explanations both seem a little anti-climactic. Though, there are elements of each that I do like.

Both stories need work, but if we have to have a specific origin at all, then I almost like to have both play a role. I kind of like the idea of King Grayskull being the actual origin of the power (though still wanting a better explanation than him climbing some mountains and crap), and then He-Ro was maybe the first to receive the power after King Grayskull (and maybe he was the one who split the power in two, with the other part being for She-Ra). Those are just my thoughts.

I like he-ro because he is more unique, greyskull to me is just a historic figure that i don't mind seeing flashes of but seeing a whole toon based on him would pretty much just be he-man with longer hair and a sliightly different outfit, so I wouldn't see a point. He-ro on the other hand is a completely different character.